crowdsourcinghttp://www.maximumpc.com/taxonomy/term/10527/
enLegislators Draft "Digital Bill Of Rights," Want Your Help Tweaking Ithttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/legislators_draft_digital_bill_rights_want_your_help_tweaking_it
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/gavel.jpg" width="225" height="220" style="float: right;" />While <a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/report_doj_investigating_whether_cable_companies_are_purposefully_keeping_streaming_media_down">the DoJ is apparently banging on cable company doors</a> to ensure the Internet's pipes stay free of anticompetitive interests, a dynamic duo in Washington are doing their part to try and formalize what we should expect while virtually traversing said pipes. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA), two key Congressional members in the fight against SOPA, are back with a draft for a "Digital Bill of Rights" -- and they're asking for your help to finalize the document.</p>
<p>"<em>Where can a digital citizen turn for protection against the powerful?</em>" Issa ponders in his intro to the draft, which is <a href="http://keepthewebopen.com/digital-bill-of-rights">up and open to comments on Issa's KeepTheWeb#Open website</a>. "<em>This question lay at the heart of the fight to stop SOPA and PIPA and keep the web open. While I do not have all the answers, the remarkable cooperation we witnessed in defense of an open Internet showed me three things. First, government is flying blind, interfering and regulating without understanding even the basics. Second, we have a rare opportunity to give government marching orders on how to treat the Internet, those who use it and the innovation it supports. And third, we must get to work immediately because our opponents are not giving up.</em>"</p>
<p>Rousing speech, general! Issa and Wyden's actual draft keeps things short and sweet, with just 10 basic principles that favor net neutrality and pro-privacy practices. Here's the list:</p>
<ol>
<li><strong>Freedom</strong> - digital citizens have a right to a free, uncensored internet</li>
<li><strong>Openness</strong> - digital citizens have a right to an open, unobstructed internet</li>
<li><strong>Equality</strong> - all digital citizens are created equal on the internet</li>
<li><strong>Participation</strong> - digital citizens have a right to peaceably participate where and how they choose on the internet</li>
<li><strong>Creativity</strong> - digital citizens have a right to create, grow and collaborate on the internet, and be held accountable for what they create</li>
<li><strong>Sharing</strong> - digital citizens have a right to freely share their ideas, lawful discoveries and opinions on the internet</li>
<li><strong>Accessibility</strong> - digital citizens have a right to access the internet equally, regardless of who they are or where they are</li>
<li><strong>Association</strong> - digital citizens have a right to freely associate on the internet</li>
<li><strong>Privacy</strong> - digital citizens have a right to privacy on the internet</li>
<li><strong>Property</strong> - digital citizens have a right to benefit from what they create, and be secure in their intellectual property on the internet</li>
</ol>
<p>Now, this is far, far away from actual legislation, but it seems like a decent starting point, if a bit pie-in-the-sky. What would you add? Tell us in the comments, then <a href="http://keepthewebopen.com/digital-bill-of-rights">head over to the Digital Bill of Rights page</a> and voice your concerns directly.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/legislators_draft_digital_bill_rights_want_your_help_tweaking_it#commentscrowdsourcingDigital rightslawnewspoliticswashingtonNewsWed, 13 Jun 2012 17:34:42 +0000Brad Chacos23575 at http://www.maximumpc.comGamers Contribute Over $1 Million To "Wasteland 2" Kickstarter Fundhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/gamers_contribute_over_1_million_wasteland_2_kickstarter_fund
<!--paging_filter--><p><img src="/files/u138055/wasteland_2.jpg" width="228" height="184" style="float: right;" />Our beloved Fallout grew from the barren seeds of Wasteland, a post-apocalyptic RPG created by Interplay in 1988. But while Fallout may be the unofficial successor to the stand-alone Wasteland, an official successor is now waiting in the wings. Brian Fargo, Interplay founder and executive producer for both Fallout and Wasteland, has raised over $1 million in KickStarter funding for Wasteland 2 -- and he's bringing his old design friends along for the ride.</p>
<p>Joining Fargo will be Wasteland designers Alan Pavlish, Mike Stackpole and Ken St. Andre, Fallout co-creator Jason Anderson, and music from Fallout 1 and 2's Mark Morgan. They've also wrangled in concept artist Andree Wallin and are working on pulling in even more Wasteland/Fallout vets to the cause. </p>
<p>Fargo's original goal was to raise at least $900,000; as of right now, the total stands at $1,019,080 with nearly 18,000 people contributing. (Fudzilla reports that <a href="http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/26356-razer-ceo-puts-10k-up-for-wasteland-2">Razer honcho Min-Liang Tan ponied up $10,000</a> towards that total.) And if the money keeps coming in, Wasteland 2 will only get bigger and better. The team pledges to include additional maps, music, stories, challenges and even a Mac version if the funding hits the $1.25 million and $1.5 million milestones.&nbsp; "That’s a lot of money needed, but not when compared with the budgets of most full scale RPGs made today," the Kickstarter page notes.</p>
<p>Pledging $15 gets you a DRM-free copy of the game when it launches (Estimated to be October 2013), while upping the ante gets you even more goodies, including boxed copies complete with art books and cloth maps, access to closed beta trials on Steam, and even the ability to have weapons and locations named in your honor. Heck, if you've got $5,000 laying around that you feel like contributing, the team will even go so far to erect a statue of you somewhere in the game.</p>
<p>That about covers it, but if you want more info or feel like contributing to the game's development, be sure to <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2">check out the Wasteland 2 Kickstarter page</a>.</p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/gamers_contribute_over_1_million_wasteland_2_kickstarter_fund#commentscrowdsourcingFalloutGamingInterplaykickstarterPC gamingwastelandNewsThu, 15 Mar 2012 17:23:59 +0000Brad Chacos22926 at http://www.maximumpc.comGoogle Moderator Brings Greater Interactivity to YouTubehttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_moderator_brings_greater_interactivity_youtube
<!--paging_filter--><p>YouTube on Thursday finished integrating Google Moderator into the site. The tool is now <a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/">available to all YouTube users wanting to use their channel page as a platform for interaction and crowdsourcing</a>. Moderator's use on the video sharing site was hitherto confined to major events and power users. </p>
<p> The tool was used to good effect to solicit video and text questions when YouTube interviewed President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper earlier this year. An early adopter, singer-songwriter Kina Grannis is using Moderator to crowdsource the lyrics of her next song.</p>
<p> “You set the parameters for the dialogue, including the topic, the type of submissions, and the length of the conversation. Watch as submissions get voted up or down by your audience, and then respond to the top-voted submissions by posting a video on your channel,” YouTube wrote on its official blog.</p>
<p> “The platform operates in real-time, and you can remove any content that you or your audience flag as inappropriate. You can also embed the platform on your own website or blog.”</p>
<p> The New York Times, Stanford and Howcast are among the 12 users YouTube invited to set the ball rolling.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u46168/Picture_9.png" width="405" height="162" /></div>
<p><em>Image Credit: YouTube </em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/google_moderator_brings_greater_interactivity_youtube#commentscrowdsourcingInternetwebyoutubeNewsFri, 28 May 2010 02:30:44 +0000Pulkit Chandna12643 at http://www.maximumpc.com'Project X' to Blend Google Street View with Online Avatarshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/project_x_blend_google_street_view_online_avatars
<!--paging_filter--><p>A virtual world has to be based in an imaginary setting, right? Wrong. An upcoming virtual world called Project X is likely to please those who find current virtual worlds too surreal or outre. Micazook, the start-up behind Project X, wants people to turn its virtual world into a replica of our planet piecemeal. It <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20001151-264.html?part=rss&amp;subj=news&amp;tag=2547-1_3-0-20">closely resembles Google Maps with Street View</a>, save for the fact that users can interact with each other using 3D avatars. </p>
<p> Members can further bring Project X closer to the real thing by lending 10 to 15 minutes of their precious time in creating the buildings themselves – from building a virtual copy of your entire neighborhood to a famous local landmark. The developers want the users to contribute to Project X with the same zest as they display on other crowdsourced sites like Wikipedia. However, Micazook has every intention of profiting from its creation and to this end plans to impose a 30% levy on each virtual item sold. Furthermore, users will need to shell out $4.99 each month for each building they want to own. </p>
<p> As Project X is a browser-based virtual world, it requires a plug-in to deliver hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. It is due for a change of name before its beta launch a “few weeks” from now.</p>
<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u46168/project_x.gif" width="280" height="210" /></div>
<p> <em>Image Credit: Micazook</em></p>
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/project_x_blend_google_street_view_online_avatars#commentscrowdsourcinggoogle street viewInternetsecond lifestart-upvirtual worldNewsFri, 26 Mar 2010 02:42:14 +0000Pulkit Chandna11641 at http://www.maximumpc.comDeals.Woot Launches, Crowdsources Thriftinesshttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dealswoot_launches_crowdsources_thriftiness
<!--paging_filter--><p>The guys and gals at Woot have <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/11/23/deals-woot/">added another portal to their stable of daily deal sites</a>. The deals.woot site is a bit of a departure for Woot. All their preexisting sites feature a product chosen by Woot employees, but deals.woot is a user driven site akin to a Digg for bargain shopping.<br /> <br /> Woot has made waves in the tech/geek community by offering a daily deal, which is sometimes an insanely good value. More recently, Woot has expanded to various specialized portals like shirt.woot, wine.woot, and sellout.woot. The new site uses an algorithm to bring the users’ favorite deals to the surface for all to see. The top of the landing page, however, isn’t user driven. It is populated by sponsored deals.</p>
<p> Woot explained the sponsored links saying, “OK, yes, companies pay a little something to be Sponsored Deals. But we don’t allow just any old crap in this section… If we find the deal compelling enough that our members will appreciate us bringing it to their attention, we’ll feature it here.” If you’re the type that enjoys a good tech bargain (and who doesn’t?) check it out at <a href="http://deals.woot.com/">deals.woot.com</a>.<br />
<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u94712/wootd.png" alt="woot" width="405" height="187" /></div>
</p>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/dealswoot_launches_crowdsources_thriftiness#commentscrowdsourcingdealsonline shoppingshoppingwootNewsWed, 25 Nov 2009 02:24:54 +0000Ryan Whitwam9363 at http://www.maximumpc.comAs Wiki Ages, Volunteers Drop Offhttp://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/wiki_ages_volunteers_drop
<!--paging_filter--><p>Wikipedia has become one of the largest crowdsourcing projects in the world since its debut about 8 years ago. It is also the fifth most popular website, garnering over 325 million visitors each month. Even with all this success, some are afraid for the future of the online encyclopedia. In recent years, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125893981183759969.html">volunteers have been leaving the site in huge numbers</a>. </p>
<p>In the first three months of 2009, the English-language Wikipedia experienced a net loss of over 49,000 editors. Compare that to the same period a year earlier when only 4,900 editors were lost. The Wikimedia foundation is aware of the losses, but believes the wiki will be able to continue.</p>
<p>As for the cause, there are two basic schools of thought. The first is that users are becoming weary of the hostile environment Wikipedia can be. Some may not want to engage in heated debates about content. Add to that the increasingly restrictive rules Wikipedia has had to set forth to combat vandalism and you may have a recipe for desertion. Others feel that there just isn’t that much work left to do. Many articles have already been written and rewritten, leaving little for the average editor to add.</p>
<p>Whatever the cause, we can only hope that knowledge continues to be aggregated in Wikipedia. Where do you come down? Is Wikipedia withering on the vine? Or has it just reached a level of maturity that requires less tending to?<br />
<div style="text-align: center"><img src="/files/u94712/wikihw22.png" alt="aff" width="405" height="428" /></div>
</p>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/wiki_ages_volunteers_drop#commentscrowdsourcingvolunteerwebwikipediaNewsTue, 24 Nov 2009 00:38:35 +0000Ryan Whitwam9331 at http://www.maximumpc.com